Cross-cultural Organizations and the Empowerment of First Nations Learners

Abstract

By examining the tensions around First Nations learners wedged between competing organizational visions, this research exposes the conflicting funding enticements that impede maximized empowerment for First Nations adult learners. In a mixed methods ethnographical case study using a social justice theoretical framework, this study documented promising levels of empowerment for the students at the beginning of the program. These levels of empowerment were eroded, however, by the Eurocentric funding model that pitted the expectations of First Nations organizations against those of the institutions offering the program, and the needs of the students themselves. The data indicated that the mandatory workplace courses delivered to the informants later in the study were generally below the informants’ ability range. Ensuing levels of empowerment of the learners near the end of the study appeared to reflect the economic streamlining decisions with data that indicated disempowerment across several quantitative categories as run through SPSS and supported by the study’s side-by-side qualitative data. Endorsements for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to focus their funding models on quality, rather than the quantity, of programming are among the recommendations that emerge from the research. Recommendations also include utilizing graduate level teachers working with management rather than under management to facilitate assured and embedded front line input into program development.